O MERCOSUL que não é: o dilema da incorporação de normas e o déficit democrático

Abstract

The rapid changes that have occurred on international markets in the last five decades provoked evident transformations in the economic relations among States, among which one should highlight regionalism and the phenomenon of integration into economic blocs. The objective of this dissertation is to stimulate an academic discussion regarding the foundations and practical results of integration, with particular emphasis on MERCOSUL law. Following presentation of a highly detailed summary of the theory of economic integration, it becomes obvious that the law is at one and the same time cause and effect of the evolution of the integrationist economic movement, composed as it is of rules that both create the integrated space and discipline intra-bloc organs and structures; that, going beyond integration law, there is a community law that is even more complex, particularly when viewed in terms of its immediate applicability, direct effects and primacy. It is seen that the right of integration is derived from international public law tout court, with which it is often confused, as in the case of the law applicable to MERCOSUL, designed to regulate what has become known as an imperfect customs union. Consequently, it must be emphasized that MERCOSUL law cannot be characterized as having the nature of community law, since it lacks attributes of the latter as cited above. In its intergovernmental vector, MERCOSUL law depends on reception mechanisms in order to go into effect in the Participating States. This fact makes operation of the law difficult due as much to the constitutional asymmetries that exist among the bloc's member countries, as to the failure of the mechanisms of national incorporation. Thus, one can conclude that there exists a democratic deficit in MERCOSUL that is also a result of this reality - not only in the sense of the absence of democratic mechanisms of popular participation in decision-making processes, but also the lack of effectiveness of the community rules adopted, caused by the diversity of incorporation systems utilized by the parties, as well as insistence on a rigid concept of sovereignty on the part of those charged with interpreting and applying the legal structures of the countries that make up the Southern Commun Market.